COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Buckeyes are hoping to find that missing something that escaped them in 2016 and apply it to the 2017 season. The word 'swagger' has been thrown around a lot since Urban Meyer took over as the head coach with the Buckeyes after the 2011 season and it appears that word has taken root again as Ohio State's wide receivers look to have a bounce-back year in 2017.
"All of you guys have seen it," wide receiver Parris Campbell said. "We were not making plays when plays were supposed to be made. Too many balls on the ground, too many opportunities left on the field. As a whole unit, I felt that we never left a game feeling like we did what we needed to do."
In five previous seasons, the highest average yards per game via the pass for a season was Ohio State's championship year of 2014 when the team averaged 247.1 yards per game via the pass. That was also the last year that Ohio State had a known deep-threat in Devin Smith. That is something that the offense is working hard to identify this year and incorporate into a passing offense that averaged just shy of 214 yards per game in 2016.
"We have got to make big plays, we have got to hit the deep ball, we have got to throw the deep ball, we have got to protect the deep ball and when that happens, you have seen it here before, it opens everything up," wide receivers coach Zach Smith said. "When it does not happen, it is hard to move the ball. As an offense we have got to do that."
Enter coaches Kevin Wilson and Ryan Day on the offensive side. They will work with Smith and Tony Alford to get this offense to where it has been in years past. The players have taken a notice to how the offense is different, even if this team has only been able to see it in controlled scrimmages during this spring practice period.
"Swagger is coming back to our offense, I feel like," wide receiver Terry McLaurin said. "When we make a big play, it is not, 'Oh, it is another play'… it gets hype in here because we make a big play, a game changing play. Coach Day says all the time that if we make a big deep route that it is a game changing play, that will help you win game. Coach Wilson and coach Day have been a great addition to our offense and we are building great relationships with them right now."
Younger players like K.J. Hill and Binjimen Victor will both be looked upon to make that big step this season as well and have also seen that swagger coming to the offense, even if they were not part of the 2014 team that set a standard for Ohio State offensive marks.
"Coach Wilson has got some to him and coach Day has some to him and we are coming behind them, leading us on the offense," Hill said. "Also the deep ball. Our percentages are going up every practice. We had a drought but I think it is going up. I think those two things mainly."
Nobody wants to look to the past and denigrate what happened then, it is all about moving forward. But older players on the team do know that last season was not what it needed to be. The right players and personnel is in place now and it is time to prove that on the field when the season starts in August.
"I feel like there was a little bit of a gap but at the same time I just feel like we have the players to do it, just that consistency that we need," McLaurin added. "Now there is such a clear objective of what is expected, the offensive coordinator and coach Smith. Now it is our job to do it as players and if you don't, you are just not going to play."
